It's raining tonight. It's far from a torrential downpour but definitely a steady rain. This certainly won't end our record-setting drought but every little bit helps, and the forecast calls for rain again tomorrow. I can't even remember the last time it rained in two consecutive days.

Labels: Charlotte, weather

August in Charlotte, North Carolina is hot already, but we're now smack in the middle of the longest heat wave in over a decade. Today's temperature was an all-time high for this date, 102° in the shade - with over 40% humidity and a heat index of 105° - still in the shade. Here's the sweltering highs this week and the forecast for the rest of the week:

• Friday: 95°
• Saturday: 97°
• Sunday: 97°
• Monday: 99°
• Tuesday: 99°
• Wednesday: 102°
• Thursday: 104° - ties all-time record high
• Friday: 104° - ties all-time record high
• Saturday: 95°

...and predicted to stay in the 90's the five more days after that!

Labels: weather

I took Maegan camping this weekend at McDowell Nature Preserve, which is just a few miles from home. After setting up the tent we set out on a long two hour hike, half of which was on trails we've never hiked before. Maegan kept proving to me why she's a straight-A student, constantly teaching me about nature along the way. For example, I pointed out some pine cones and Maegan informed me that they were actually called a conifer cones (I had no idea) and all about how the cones contain seeds that help repopulate the forest.

After our hike Patty met us at the campsite with Darah for dinner. We all had your typical campsite food... Chick-fil-a. Patty and Darah couldn't stay long so it was just Maegan and I again after the sun set. We talked, played board games, roasted marshmallows, and made s'mores.

We chose this weekend to go camping because the forecast was only 20% chance of scattered showers (about as good odds as your going to get in the North Carolina Piedmont in the early summer). We've had it rain on our camp out every time we've ever gone... so why should our luck be any different this time.

1:00 a.m. - It starts raining. After 15 minutes the rain fly begins to leak in several spots, including spots over both Maegan and myself. But it's just a slight drip and by 1:30 a.m. it's just a slight drizzling so after moving Maegan away from the drip, I go back to bed. 5:00 a.m. - Lightning and thunder roll in, along with more rain. This rain is much harder. I turned on the radio to get a sense of how quickly the storm may pass by but in just a few minutes it becomes apparent that it's irrelevant. The rain fly is leaking much more and in many more spots. We're both getting wet and it's time to abandon ship. I grab the electronics and other non-waterproof items and we jumped in the car and waited. After a half an hour the rain continued but it was much lighter. Maegan wanted to go back to the tent but I knew it would still be soaking so in the pre-dawn darkness we left the camp site (tent and all) and headed home. 7:00 a.m. - The storm finally passed by but Maegan is now asleep in her bed. I'm going to wait as long as I can to let the sun dry out the tent. 12:00 p.m. - I returned to the camp site by myself. The sun had totally dried out all of the tent above the ground, but not the floor which was literally submerged. I collapsed the tent, dragged it to a dry, sunny spot, and flipped it over. This worked surprisingly well and I was able to pack up the tent and leave by 1 p.m.

As usual, camping was a lot of fun until the rain ruined it. Next time I think I'll just go hiking with Maegan and then come home.

Labels: camping, hiking, Maegan, weather

Snow dusted the ground this morning and the entire city of Charlotte shut down. [Pause for my northern friends to stop laughing.]

Although we didn't get any snowfall last year, Charlotte does average a few inches of snowfall each year. In 2003 we had one storm that dumped 18 inches on a city that isn't equipped to deal with it. We got less than two inches this morning and there were over 200 automobile accidents before 9 am. It is supposed to get worse this afternoon as the rain that is currently falling turns to ice.

On a side note, some neighbors let their kids go out and play in the snow, yelling and screaming at 7:30 am. Although I'm heading out to work in a few moments, so much for anybody else being able to sleep in.

Labels: Charlotte, weather